Seelenfenster - Der Einfluß des Brillentragens auf die Persönlichkeit

Although I saw this documentary under unfavorable circumstances (in Portuguese, with Spanish subtitles), it remains in my mind and heart. Based on well-edited clips from interviews with nineteen visually impaired people, some totally blind, others with serious but correctable vision difficulties--many of the people interviewed famous for their accomplishments--the film reveals ways that perceptual problems can shape rather than wreck people's lives.

The interviews with a Brazilian fisherman, Nobel prizewinning Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, and a self-accepting woman artist who has taken advantage of her blurred vision in her work have stayed in my mind's eye. I learned that Oliver Sacks, whose books are packed with intelligence and emotion but not visual detail, has had severe myopia since birth.

IMDb readers may be most interested in hearing what Wim Wenders and Agnes Varda have to say. The film, 73 minutes long, is available in a version with English subtitles.

One of the best films of the year and an unusual documentary about great minds discussing that sometimes fisics problems may increase our criative instint and propose many ways of seen the world.. After the session we look all the way home, serching for images ironicle olds and news.

I got a chance to see this film in 2002 at New Delhi during International Film Festival of India 2002.It was on that occasion that I also got a chance to interact with Joao Jardim about his film.It is through eyes that we experience all the good things in life.Our lives would really be meaningless if we don't have eyes or if we are not able to see properly."Janela da Alma" is a marvelous documentary film from Brazil which discusses the important topic of "importance of eyes in the lives of human beings".What makes this intimate documentary worthwhile is its description about eyes both from scientific as well as cultural perspective.Joao Jardim and Walter Carvalho who have made this film show the interviews of various important personalities of cinema in order to let them speak about eyes.We get a chance to see important people related to the field of cinema such as Wim Wenders, Agnes Varda,Jose Saramago and Olivier Sachs.If you are looking for a different kind of documentary film,Janela da Alma would easily be your best choice.

Walter Carvalho is the cinematographer of over 60 Brazilian movies, Central Station among them. João Jardim and Carvalho are both myopic which may explain their interest in blindness/sigh impairment. It's good to see Brazil bringing to the screen a more universal subject. The interviews show many different aspects of the matter through the eyes (or not) of people like Win Wenders, Oliver Sacks, José Saramago, João Ubaldo Ribeiro. José Saramago is the author of "Blindness", a book now turned movie. "Window of the soul" makes a reference to Leonardo da Vinci's quote "the eyes are the window of the soul, the mirror of the world". Beautiful and poetic movie.